SITUATION
Taro or Poi is nutritious and an excellent source of essential trace minerals.
Such as manganese, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper,& phosphorus.
Taro or Poi was & could again be complete diet for Molokai & Hawaii people.
Poi was once considered an important & sacred aspect of daily Hawaiian life.
Deemed the “potato of the tropics, is most commonly harvested for its roots.
Taro needs a lot of water & that is why not major product in Hawaii (Molokai).
Early Hawaiians ate 10 to 20 pounds per day. Rice replaced Poi in diets.
Legislature outlawed the cultivation of genetically modified Taro
SIGNIFICANCE:
Taro farmers in Hawaii have managed to reclaim some of that lost land with some water.
However, have found themselves at the mercy of a greater threat: climate change.
Also impacted by trade winds turning easterly and weaker.
Causing fruits ripening out of season as temperatures creep upward & freakish weather
SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM:
Pests, climate change, & the need for more water making growing challenging.
Snails, capable of laying as many as 1,200 of its bright pink eggs each week, Infests taro patches.
Found on almost every island, leaving holes in the corms.
Snails eat the tender shoots, doubling farm labor and depressing yields.
SOLUTIONS:
Taro could solve more than Molokai’s Food production shortfalls.
With water could be an off Island product for sale & marketing.
10 Molokai Taro farmers on 40 acre lots could produce enough food for a year.
Or 364 acres could feed the entire island.
Taro also contains calcium oxalate. Just steam to eradicate its toxic elements.
Only in Hawaii is Taro revered as a bridge between the mortal and the divine:
Eating poi has become political, plus an act of cultural salvage & self-determination.
STATS:
Hawaii consumes 6.5 M pounds of Taro per year; Produces about 4.5 M pounds.
More productive than macadamia nuts or avocados, both alien to the native diet.
640 farmers all over the world collectively cultivate 11.3 million tons of Taro acres.
Could produce necessary calories for 12,000 people for full year
PEOPLE:
Ginger Hill Farms -Major Grower
Jill Coombs, Published Research Paper on Taro Growing on Molokai in 2016
SOURCES:
“Adaption of Temperature Crops to Support Food Production for Molokai”]
Page 22 of 69 –https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1459&context=creativecomponents
“Fewer Farmers Are Growing Hawaii’s ‘Miracle Food’ Taro Despite Growing Demand”-
https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/03/fewer-farmers-are-growing-hawaiis-miracle-food-taro-despite-growing-demand/
“On Hawaii, the Fight for Taro’s Revival” By Ligaya Mishan –https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/t-magazine/hawaii-taro.html
Buy Poi in LA – https://www.leilanisattic.com/products/aloha-aina-poi
